Perseverance
by Bleeding Writer
Summary: I am a terrible, horrendous, awful cook. I don't know what things means in recipes. I don't even know how to flip pasta...but if it will make him open that door and smile again, then, I'll learn. And I'll do it just for him...no matter how hard it gets. Rated K.


**BBRae Week, Day 6 –PERSEVERANCE **

"_Perseverance- steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success."_

I have never been a good cook.

In fact, I'm a terrible one.

I don't know the difference between teaspoons and tablespoons with their little stupid abbreviations. I don't know how long to "stir until thick" – whatever the hell that means. I don't know what I have to use whisk instead of a beater when they both seem to do the same thing to me. Unless I'm boiling a pot of tea, stoves are confusing and don't _even_ get me started on my terrible relationship with ovens.

Yes, I am a terrible cook. But…

It's been awhile since I've seen him. Ever since he found out that Terra was alive, he has holed himself up in his room. We all go to his door and knock hoping he'd let us in but he doesn't answer. The most we get is:

"Go away."

"Leave me alone."

"I'm not hungry."

But he never opens the door and let us see him. Even during battles, all we get are brief glimpses of him before it's all over and then, he disappears again, only to go back to the Tower and lock himself away in his room again.

We've all tried different ways to get him to come out. Starfire tried to bribe him with walks in the park with Silky. Robin offered to teach him some new fighting moves. Cyborg offered video games, pizza, even his own moped. They did that for a week and a half before they all decided to give up and let him come out when he's ready.

I, on the other hand, am not giving up.

He has been there for me so many times. Like that Malchior incident when I felt so alone and he came to my room to let me know I wasn't. Or when Adonis tried to make a _move_ on me, and he stayed outside my door through the night and made sure I was okay through the night. Or when he gave me his lucky penny and gave me hope when I was to turn into a portal. He never gave up on cheering me up. He never stopped fighting for me. And neither will I, for him.

Which leads me to where I am now: Cooking.

Every night for the past two weeks, I've been making him dinner and dessert before I go to his room, place the tray in front of his door and sit there beside it, reading to him until the book is done. He doesn't open the door nor does he say anything but I know he's there. I know he's listening. And I'm hoping that this whole madness of me actually cooking for him helps - hoping that he knows that I won't give up on him until he opens that door.

I started with more complicated recipes, dealing with tofu mainly. It took me a few tries but I finally learned that tofu and I don't get along. So I looked for other recipes – most of it Mediterranean and difficult to do as well. Starfire and Cyborg offered to help but I refused, claiming that I had to do this myself.

_I'm such an idiot for that…_

But I'm push through, trying to find something that I can make that will get him to come out the door. Every day, I scan for another vegetarian dish that looks like it would actually be filling. I haven't seen or heard him come out his room to eat so I know he must be starving or sneaking small bits of food in his room without us noticing.

Today, I decided to give up on Mediterranean and try a completely different culture of food: Mexican.

More specifically, squash and zucchini burritos. I know he loves burritos and must be craving them at this point so I figured I'd give it a try. And instead of doing something cool and creative like mixing avocado and banana to make a vegetarian chocolate pudding, I've decided on something simple like strawberries with balsamic vinegar for dessert. Weird combination but hopefully, it'll work.

I hear the oven beep, saying that they're done. Opening the door, I grab some oven mitts and take them out manually. I've tried taking them out with my powers before but they always cooled it down too much and there was something always off about the taste and smell afterward.

Putting them on the stove top, I carefully move them from the baking dish to the plate and sprinkle some more shredded cheese on top like the recipe says. I go over to my strawberries that had been sitting for the past hour. I get a small plate and pour a few spoonful's of them out onto it. I grind a little pepper on them before putting both dishes on the tray and carrying them to his room, hoping that this time he would open the door.

After a few moments, I'm standing outside his ever familiar door. I place the tray down in front of it and knock three times.

"Dinner. Squash and zucchini burritos." I call before I turn to go to sit at my usual spot in front of his door. I sit back against the opposite wall, facing his room and I open the book to the first page.

"_The Return of the Invisible Man…"_ I start as I begin to read out loud as I wait for him to open the door.

I get close to halfway through with the book when I hear something slide open. Blinking, I look up and see him standing there looking at me.

He looks thin and worn down. And _his eyes_…his eyes hold a certain hurt – a fresh hurt, that wasn't there before. Most likely from his run in with Terra and trying to cope with that. But mostly he looks tired. _Just so very tired_…As if he hasn't slept well or slept at all these past few days. I open my mouth to say something but he interrupts me.

"Did you make those?" he croaks. I'm guessing he hasn't used his voice much either…

I nod from my spot on the ground, waiting for him to give the signal that it's okay to approach. He nods back at me, looking at the tray on the floor for a long while.

Suddenly, he crouches down and picks up one of the burritos and inspects it. Not that I'd blame him…as stated before I'm a terrible cook.

But after a little bit, he takes a cautious bite and I hold my breath. I had no one to taste it, I didn't even taste it myself to see if I would like it. And now, the one person that I'm making the burritos for and trying to cheer up, in the first place, is tasting it. I swallow at the same time he does as I watch and wait for him to say something.

My ears twitch when I hear a small hum, resembling a laugh. "It's not bad," he murmurs as he reaches over to eat a strawberry, "It's actually pretty good."

I look down, bringing my knees to my chest as I try to hide the small smile on my lips. "Well I've been getting a bit of practice in these past few days."

"Well, it's been paying off," I hear him continue to chuckle. I look back up to see him standing and taking the tray with him. He turns around to head into his room and without meaning to I sigh, sadly. But then, he stops just as he reaches to shut the door behind him and stands as if he was pondering something.

He taps the door lightly two times before disappears into the darkness of his room, leaving the door open. Blinking, I stand up quickly before walking into his room after him, shutting the door behind me. I sigh in relief from achieving my goal before I walk over to him on his bed. Hopefully, I won't have to cook much more after this.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! So this is the last day that I did for Tumblr's BBRae Week. It's a cute little thing I think. The prompt was Perseverance which just happens to be the title because it just worked like that. Hope you guys like this! If you do then please leave me a review of what you like about it or of what you don't like. Or whatever you want. Just no flames, okay? Constructive criticism, guys! Well until next time...Peace!**

**Bleeding Writer**


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